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Essential Fish Habitat and Seasonal Constraints

Essential Fish Habitat and Seasonal Constraints. Michael Ludwig Ocean & Coastal Consultants, Inc Dredging 2012 October 22-25, 2012. US Harbors with natural water depths for today's or tomorrow's vessels are anomalies. USACE / State Permitting Procedures are Intimidating!.

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Essential Fish Habitat and Seasonal Constraints

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  1. Essential Fish Habitat and Seasonal Constraints Michael Ludwig Ocean & Coastal Consultants, Inc Dredging 2012 October 22-25, 2012

  2. US Harbors with natural water depths for today's or tomorrow's vessels are anomalies.

  3. USACE / State Permitting Procedures are Intimidating!

  4. What is Essential Fish Habitat (EFH)? • Those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding or growth to maturity

  5. HABITAT IS WHAT IS THERE

  6. Seasonal Constraints on projects are driven by resource & habitat impact concerns during seasonal activities. In many areas data on impact risks to lifestages & habitats is limited but constraints impact ≈ 85 % of projects.

  7. UNCERTAINTY • The Precautionary Principle asserts that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm, the action or policy is assumed harmful. • The burden of proof for no harm is on those proposing the action. • IF YOU CAN AVOID AN IMPACT DO SO. IF NOT, GET THE FACTS.

  8. Four-Level EFH Determination 1.Presence/absence data are available. 2. Habitat-related density data are available. 3. Habitat-related growth, reproduction, or survival rate are available. • Production by habitat for each species or life stage. LITTLE DATA, LOTS OF UNCERTAINTY

  9. Habitats of Particular Concern(more than 100 listed) • Rarity of habitat type • Nature of ecological function / value • Sensitivity to Degradation • Extent of Stress from Development

  10. Recent Findings Operational restrictions have problems: • Environmental buckets are not always friendly. • Marine debris negates restrictions. • Haul speed controls can be counter productive. • Barge overflow has merit. • Silt curtains are nota simple solution • With TSS, don’t believe your lying eyes.

  11. Plumes dissipated within 500 m w/ most settling within channel • Plume sediment occasionally settled on adjacent shoals (wind driven) • Observed natural TSS events of greater magnitude and duration (DAMOS #112)

  12. Sequential Dredging w/ 3 Species • Winter flounder • Tautog (blackfish) • Northern quahog Sequential Dredging

  13. TSS decay curves (Boston Harbor)

  14. Other options: ►Acoustic data ►Long-term data ► Decant or precipitate ►Vibrate piles ►Bite the Bullet: impact a single year of area's resource

  15. A Comment & Query From The Constituency Thanks for the opportunity Dredging 2012 Any Questions?

  16. PanaMax Redefined 2014* * 160' by 1200' by 50.0' by 190' usable v 107' by 965' by 39.5' by 190' Today

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